The Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea held high-level talks on Friday at a DPRK border town, a small step meant to improve ties battered by a military standoff in August and decades of acrimony and bloodshed.

No major breakthrough was expected at the meeting of vice-ministerial officials in Kaesong, but analysts see even these relatively low-level talks as meaningful because they seek to carry out previously agreed reconciliation efforts - something the rivals have often failed to do in the past.

The last such sit-down, with the mandate to discuss a range of inter-Korean issues, took place nearly two years ago.